Diagonal stripes on a T-shirt are a very classic look that has never gone out of style.  Diagonal stripe T-shirts are such classics that many people choose to wear them in a variety of colors and with a variety of types of pants and skirts. Diagonal-striped shirts can be dressed up, and dressed down or anything in between, and they will stay relevant to a person’s wardrobe for a long time. However, many people tend to worry about what a T-shirt with diagonal stripes can do to the way their figure looks.

There are generally two main schools of thought about stripes on a T-shirt. For vertical stripes, the conventional thinking is that they will make you look taller. Vertical lines elongate objects and vertical stripes on the T-shirt will elongate the figure and make it look slimmer and longer. Horizontal lines are another T-shirt classic, but many people feel that they make their figures look wider. Lines running horizontally can make a field look wider in many cases and those types of stripes are avoided by many people for that reason. So if stripes going one way to make you look taller and thinner, and stripes go the other way to make it look wider, what can stripes that are running diagonally do?

The answer largely depends on the angle of the diagonal stripes. If they are running at any 45° angle, or directly from the corner on one side of the bottom to the corner on the other side of the top, there is very different way that the figure will is perceived because of these lines.

Diagonal stripes are one design that is flattering to many different types of figures. This design tends to enhance areas that are larger, and they will generally downplay areas that are flatter.  This means that on a woman’s figure, they will make the waist look smaller and the bust look larger. This is a great, flattering look for most women because of this effect. For men, the effect is similar. Much of their torso can be made to look flatter and leaner while their shoulders and other broad areas can be made to look larger by wearing a T-shirt with diagonal stripes.

To get the best effect with diagonal stripes, it is important to have two or three colors that are highly contrasting. By choosing a dark color and a light color to contrast with each other, and are creating a stronger visual effect than by choosing colors that are similar to each other. With a lot of contrast, the eye will be drawn to the diagonal stripes on the T-shirt and the effect will be far more noticeable.

The way that the stripes lay across the figure will also be far more noticeable. The way that the stripes fall across the body is really what is giving the flattering effects of this type of stripe. If the stripes are stretched outward slightly, such as by a set of broad shoulders, this is far more noticeable with the stripes than it would be with a solid colored T-shirt or one that has horizontal or vertical stripes.